BlueHair: Interaction & Product Design

Why does Apple think that a stylus is a design flaw?

Written by

David Güiza Caicedo

in

, ,

“It’s like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it.”

Steven P. Jobs – CEO, Apple Inc.

I wonder why is it that Apple considers the use of a stylus as a design flaw?

I understand where Steve is coming from and as an interaction designer I agree that a touch interface should NOT depend on the accuracy offered by a stylus to be usable, but c’mon!

Cuneiform tablets: Yup Steve, we've been using writing tools since the bronze age, but hey, fuck it! why not do it with the fingers? ohh… that's right, they are fat, bulky, not very accurate chunks of meat!

Making the decision to cut off the possible use of a stylus (in the worst scenario) or a digitizer pen (in the best) as an alternative to your fingers in a device like the iPad out of sheer principle is like denying the importance that writing tools have had on human history all the way since the cuneiform script and the tablets they were written on (see that? how I use the word tablet?).

And this is specially true if you are proclaiming your product to be a revolution on personal computing, meant to be used also for work and study.

Maybe the guys at Apple have evolved into this?

Mastering tools and understanding how these ENHANCE our capabilities by helping us overcome our limitations is at the core of human civilization. Fingers are great for some things, but they will never replace specialized tools. Finger painting is for kids and I can’t imagine the first person who would trade a ballpoint pen for an inked index finger.

The iPad would be a bit closer to a truly revolutionary product (not that I think it is) if atop of all the sugar coated ease of use you could have hand written input and on screen drawing capabilities.

Hi,

I wonder why is it that you and Apple consider the use of a stylus as a design flaw?

I understand where you are coming from and as an interaction designer I agree that a touch interface should not depend on the accuracy offered by a stylus to be usable, but c’mon! Cutting off the (possible) use of a stylus (in the worst scenario) or a digitizer pen (in the best) out of sheer principle in a device like the iPad is like denying the importance that writing tools have had on human history all the way since the cuneiform script and the tablets they were written on.

Mastering tools and understanding how these ENHANCE our capabilities by overcoming our limitations is at the core of human civilization. Fingers are great for some things, but they will never replace specialized tools. Finger painting is for kids and I can’t imagine the first person who would trade a ballpoint pen for an inked index finger.

The iPad would be a truly revolutionary product if atop of all the sugar coated ease of use you could have hand written input and on screen drawing capabilities.

I would love to pick your brain on this one.

Comments

5 responses to “Why does Apple think that a stylus is a design flaw?”

  1. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    The main drawback is that it will take the tablet away from the expanding and improving the multi-touch capacity. Improving the ease of zooming may help. I agree…not great for writing/drawing, but many arts (music, pottery, etc) have been known to engage the digits.

    Reply
  2. Tine Lavrysen Avatar
    Tine Lavrysen

    Mmmmmhhh… Pottery on your iPad. I see a good business model in that.

    But seriously? The stylus will stand in the way of the improvement of multitouch capacity?
    Hmmmmmm….

    Reply
  3. Bluehair Avatar
    Bluehair

    I also doubt that allowing the use of a stylus stands on the way of fully developing the multi-touch capabilities of the device. Of course, you shouldn’t be lazy and say “well, if you can’t tap a button with your fingers, then do it with a stylus”, which is what Microsoft used to say before when we had to deal with the previous versions of Windows Mobile.

    Funnily enough Microsoft has learned it’s lesson and they are working on a quite interesting research called “Manual Deskterity Project”:
    http://community.research.microsoft.com/blogs/alpineinker/archive/2010/04/08/manual-deskterity-an-exploration-of-simultaneous-pen-touch-direct-input.aspx

    It’s a very interesting source for information regarding “Pen+Touch” interaction and some explorations on the possibilities this combination offers.

    Reply
  4. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    @Tine: Steve Jobs, being Steve Jobs, is drawing us towards something more basic. Frustration will nudge innovation, and I for one, I’m glad sticklers like Jobs are around, who insist on finding the back-door way of doing things. Yes, that clear point is very handy, but it also represents a limit to getting to places we haven’t visited. I for one know I type much faster than I write legibly. 10 digits will beat the one. Evolution likes frustration, it finds the back-door shortcut sometimes and more efficient ways of doing things. But my more basic point is that we’ll adapt to the medium.

    @Bluehair: The combo is certainly an interesting direction to take. It will solve certain critical problems needed for effective multi-touch digital modelling (which ..as a designer is mostly what I’m interested in), but, again, who knows if Appledom will find those back-door ways that prove more resilient.

    Reply
  5. Jayson Korfhage Avatar
    Jayson Korfhage

    Apple never just produce gadgets; they create resolutions that people can see fitting into their lives finally. As a university teacher with a fantastic life, I reckon this being a very handy thing to experience.

    Reply

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